My Ford NH carburetor drips gasoline whenever the engine is not runnning, so I bought the repair book and will probably take a shot at fixing the carb, myself. After I screw that up, I'll need to know of a repair shop to which I can ship the carburetor for overhaul by someone who actually knows what he's doing. Does anybody know of such a facility?

Let me add something for you to be aware of based on personal experience and actually have never figured out why...I've redone maybe 5 of them by now over the years, they usually work good enough when done, but for some reason...I initially got a sticky float hinge on 2 of them, and if you think you have a drip now, hah, wait to see what that does Now for the crazy part...it starts flowing all over the place? Rattle the bowl with a crescent wrench and it stops...do this about 1/2 dozen times and all of a sudden the hinge starts working of its' own accord! I don't know why, maybe someone can share a tip as to why it happens and how to prevent it (and no, I didn't bend the hinge looking for level..the floats came in fine as they were!)

Save yourself some aggravation. Before attempting to remove the needle seat, heat the carb casting in that area until dull red and then allow it to cool. This will cause the brass to shrink when it cools and pull away from the threads in the cast iron breaking the bond. The seat will turn out with your fingers when cool.

I have only had one that I was ever able to remove without heat.

I wouldn't want to have to ship one off and pay for a full rebuild if all it needed was a new needle and seat. If you don't have the means to heat it red I'm sure you live near one of us that do.

Their really simple to do Bob. 2 things: First you will probably have to heat the neck with a propane tortch to get the main jet to unscrew and , second get the neoprene needle/seat set when you replace that. Soak the body for afew days in a cleaner (I used lacquer thinner)with the float weighed down in the thinner by the carb body.Keeping the float submerged will tell you if it has any holes in it. When you remove it, shake it to see if it's taken in any of the thinner. If it has the float has a hole in it. Otherwise just replace all the wear parts,screw in the main jet needle (LIGHTLY) till it stops, back it out 1 turn and slap it back on the car. If you plan to replace the data plate use extreme care in drilling out the rivet holes.Size is critical. Engine enamel black works well for paint. I've re-built & sold a number of these on the net. No complaints yet.

Maybe my opinion of what defines "Rebuilt", --and other's opinion may differ, but saying this tongue-in-cheek, is 'Rebuilt' the code words for disassemble, soak, repaint, and re-assemble with new gaskets? <grin>

To me, the biggest thing that makes a successful rebuild job on a carburetor is a tight fitting throttle shaft. Without that, it sucks air which won't let the engine idle down (helpful during vehicle braking) and it won't send a strong internal signal which affects throttle response and performance. Most used T carbs I see have excessively worn throttle shafts & bores, --including many I see on running cars. So how do guys that rebuild at home bore & rebush the throttle shaft area?

If the shaft play is minimal or in fact even if you re-bush the shaft, there is a small foam washer used on lawn mower carbs that I install on all my carb rebuilds. You remove the throttle shaft and install it on the shaft at the linkage end and re-instal the shaft. The seal is on the outside between the linkage and the carb body. It is very soft and very resiliant and seems to seal the shaft quite well.(it's also nearly invisible). I've used it in over a dozen carb re-builds and it lasts for years.

When I rebuild an NH. I remove all hardware and plugs from the body, clean it to new casting quality inside and out, drill out all internal passages, re-machine the throttle shaft bore and install a graphite impregnated bronze sleeve and new throttle shaft (final fit is extremely close and the dry lubricant is actually part of the bronze in the new bushing so the bushing and shaft is actually now correctly engineered to run without any additional lubricant and will last a very long time. This bearing eliminates the need for any modern seal in this area and since "seals" depend on lubrication to do their job without wearing out prematurely, this is good). All other new parts are provided as needed, new brass plugs, DuPont epoxy primer & baked enamel top coat, new data plate/vent cover, & a one year guarantee. Turnaround time is probably 6-8 weeks right now because I do them in batches to keep the cost lower. Email for flyers. It is, of course, essential that your fuel tank, sediment bulb, & fuel lines are absolutely clean and in good condition. If they are not, there is no carburetor rebuild job on earth that will be satisfactory if the rest of your fuel system is not in excellent shape. Adam Doleshal Adam's Antique Auto Parts, LLC

By the way, I powder coat them. In answer to Brett, I have a jig on my mill to hold them in the correct position to REAM the throttle shaft hole to the correct size and angle for the new throttle shaft bushings. When you drill the passages, make sure you are not drilling through the castings. I use allen head set screws for plugging the passages. If you look back you can see my easy system for installing the pins.

I agree with Brett, a wash and polish is not a rebuild.

Thanks, Jim.

I just finished my 186th Stromberg, about 90% OF's, 10% other brass Stromberg. I manufacture parts for the OF in my shop including the idle jet, throttle and choke shafts, needle and seat conversions and plugs. Also manufacture parts for other Strombergs including the OX3 Venturi tubes, which are made of unobtainium.

I just did an OX3 for a 26 Chrysler that had just been through a shop and came back with an easy out broken off in the main jet and was missing the plug between the idle tube passage and the main jet passage.

I just rebuilt a Zenith T accessory carb, machined a new venturi, needle and seat, etc.

I have over 100 bronze Strombergs in stock including a dozen OF's and about 50 T accessory carbs in my collection.

I dunno how many NH's, nowhere that many. I do NH's but don't particularly push that biz as there are a lot of people who will do them cheaper.

Stan - I received a note through MTFCA that you had sent me an email. But there wasn't any message with the MTFCA notification! It seems best to communicate through this forum. Did you contact me off-line? Marshall

I sent Stan the OX3 with the easy-out in it! We spent $240 to get it back that way from a carb shop in Concord, Ca.. It now looks like a piece of jewelry and the '26 Chrysler runs like new. Stan had to take parts from another carb and use them to cast new parts. The car owner is very pleased.

Thanks, Aaron. It was a frustrating but interesting rebuild. I didn't actually cast the new venturi tube, I machined it from brass stock and attached a new machined stand leg to it. If I was going to do more of those I'd cast them, this was very time consuming. I have now made two of those venturis and they are a bugger to make on the lathe. I spent a couple hours on line and on the phone calling parts places to see if they might have a new one, the big Stromberg guy told me if I could find some he'd take a dozen. Those are a pretty rare carb. I was very lucky to find one in California that the owner was willing to sell me to help get a car back on the road. If I can find or find time to machine a new main jet for the parts one I will make another venturi and put it back together to sell. I did find one rebuilt one for sale, he wanted $1875 for it.

I'm in Washington for Christmas but when I get home I'll post a picture of the before and after of that carb. I was very pleased with the way it came out and glad the owner is happy. It looks like a museum quality car and I wanted to be sure it would run right when he put the carb back on. That carb would have never run right even if the guy hadn't broken off an easy out in the main jet. The plug between the idle feed passage and the main jet feed was missing so there would have been no adjustment of the high speed main jet feed. It would have slobbered and run rich no matter what because it would have been supplying far too much gas to the main jet. I'll bet he had one plug he couldn't find a place for when he put it back together. It is not an obvious plug, after you install the idle jet you put that plug in for a passage seal and then install the main plug for the idle jet/main jet supply. It had also had a needle installed in the hole that should have held the air bleed screw for the acellerating well. There is no way if would have worked right with that needle in there. I do wish I've have been able to install it on the car and hear it run and adjust it but it is 1250 miles to the car and I figured you could do the adjustments. Thanks for the business and the nice comments.